When his fingertip brushed across the soft blood coated lips of the monster it’s form evaporated into a large dense body of smoke. He wove his hand into the gas-like shape and it disappeared into the air. Serik had dispatched his enemies’ bodies into the abyss and in their place was a small scent of brimstone signifying where they had gone. His head jerked around to face the pouring of light coming from the entrance. Another intruder? Nope, these two were familiar. “Come to look at my treasure?” He grinned, bathed in sarcasm.

The mysterious silhouette of the hunter disappeared as his form was illuminated by the gold, with him was a badly beaten Gavin, head sunk, staring down toward a bloodstained torso. The rough patron lowered his wounded companion onto a nearby throne, causing an obvious grimace in the Essentians face. “Well, that’s not coming out” When Logan was sure his partner was as comfortable as he could get he started in on the unfriendly host. “Fuck your chair! You need to fix him up. Give him back his powers so he can heal.”

Serik shifted his weight so he could get a better look at his fallen friend. He was eager to act, but subconsciously knew he couldn’t intervene in that way. “I can’t. Trust me I’d love to help you, but this is out of my hands. If Gavin gets his powers back before he returns his memory than the world will be destroyed.“ His lips pursed as if he was regretful about letting those words slip.

Agitation fumed in Logan’s belly until he let his opinions burst through. “That sounds a little over-fucking-dramatic, even for a sissy-bitch like you.” The hunter’s hostile manner came across loud and clear, alongside a sense of fear that he tried to hide. The Essentian didn’t seem phased by the crass delivery, he knew about Logan’s short fuse. Half the time he lit the charge on purpose. Really what was Logan going to do? Kill him? “I get that your trying to be insulting, but that fact that your vocal words fail to leave physical wounds negates the concept of your assault.”

“Gavin’s blood is different than other Arcanists. He doesn’t just have the blood of a magic user coursing through him. He has the first ancient’s blood in his system.” Serik was confident that this mortals mind would be ignorant enough to rationalize those hints with trivial fodder. Mankind was spoiled by their inferiority to the dealings of godly beings.

As if by cue the hunter responded, “I don’t understand.”

Serik could have laughed at the irony of his thoughts, but instead he held composure and a bit of arrogance, while countering “You’re not meant to.”

Logan grinded his teeth together, uttering “more cryptic bullshit.” Like most of their conversations Logan eventually armed himself. There by suggesting the magical entity had reached his last nerve. If there were a fatality concern for Serik he’d zip his lip and let the Eldritch calm down, but where was the fun in that. “You’re verbally disgusting and you’ve destroyed what? Seventeen? Of my mortal bodies, did you expect me to be helpful?”

“I expected you to do right by him.” Logan spit through his words, clutching the blades in a grip so tight his knuckles whitened. The Essentian had pride in his abilities as an Arcane Protector, much like his treasure this was a hot button issue he would feel compelled to defend. “If this were a simple case, I could do it. Gavin’s powers aren’t gone; it’s not like what I did to everyone else. Why do you think Gavin was sent to the Shadow Plane? His powers can’t be removed, only locked up. What we did for him was a blessing. He had a chance to be normal when he came back here. He could have started a new life, but you found him. You dragged him through all this again. Despite how much you love him, you did this not me.”

“I’m not gay,” the mortal protested, as if that label were worse than the destruction of a friend. Perhaps his human ignorance, surfacing.

Serik finally took to Gavin’s side placing a hand on the former conjurer’s shoulder. “That’s debatable, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Gavin’s the closest thing to a friend or a brother you’ve ever had. Everyone in your life has always thought of you as a whirling hurricane to send in his or her enemies’ direction. Tearing up everything in your path, Gavin saw more than that. He saw someone that carried the same burdens.” Still burning from the collection of insults and aggression Serik drew out of him, Logan was quiet. Gavin’s eyes shot open, but the pupils were nowhere to be found. A blank white stare signaled that a change had occurred. “I can take off the chain, but the deadlock is staying on. If you want to help him restore his powers completely, get his memory back.”

The two men were then swiftly pulled from space and time and transferred to another location. Gavin was still recovering as his body pulled itself back together. An unnatural energy fused together his skin and muscles cleaning up Alison’s handy work piece by piece. Logan didn’t recognize the Penthouse, but from the décor it was likely they were in one of the old Arcane families safe havens.